Bareroot Berries

Question from Maddie:

I recently planted bareroot berries (black/boysen/raspberries) can I plant beets, swiss chard around them? any problems with that?

Answer from Pat:

There is no problem with planting beets, Swiss chard or any other vegetable near to berries. However, it’s wise to leave a wider path next to berries than for other crops and then cover that path with mulch to maintain moisture in the ground, keep down weeds, and give you a clean place to walk. The path is necessary to provide room for you to walk along so you can tend to pruning and other care and for picking your berries. If you grow vegetables in this space you won’t be able to reach the berry plants.

Most berries have roots that spread out as they grow and then they throw up suckers. According to the type of berry you are growing, you may eventually want to dig these up and plant them in a new row or allow them to persist, thus creating a wider row. The distance between rows of berries is usually six feet in a home garden and may be as wide as twelve feet in a commercial field depending on the type of equipment used to tend the rows.